Pocahontas and the Impact of Story Making

For a final project in my Native American Literature's class, I am writing a short story in which I deconstruct the myths and fables surrounding Pocahontas and reveal who she really was, functioning within her own Native American society and the European society. During my research, I have come across some very interesting view points and facts. One fact that struck a particular cord with me, was the story of Pocahontas with which we are most familiar. In the story, Pocahontas saves Captain John Smith from execution by Pocahontas's father. However, as it turns out, the story that has emerged in history text books since 1805 was actually a fabrication. The fact of the story was that it never even happened. Captain John Smith wrote it up when he was writing his National Histories of Virginia. How can we tell? Smith waited to write the story until almost 15 years after Pocahontas (actually named Matoaka) had died. Also, there were no witnesses to the event still alive, and the few that did back up Smith's story, had not actually been at the execution. Finally, Smith's Histories contains to other stories remarkably similar to Pocahontas's in which a beautiful, powerful woman saves him from certain death at the hands of a relative. It's an interesting side note to history and raises a fascinating question about what we take blindly as the truth. If it's in a text book written by people who were "present" at the events, then what is put forth must be what happened. Right? Wrong. History is written by the victors of the war and the people in power. Those on the opposite side of that fence never get their stories out. In the case of Pocahontas/Matoaka, the only story we get of her was one that was fabricated by the surviving conqueror of the America's.

The truth of the story is that Matoaka was an extremely important asset to the European settlement of Jamestown in their first years in America. She worked tirelessly for peace between her Algonquian tribe and the settlers. She brought food and supplies to the settlers when the winter proved too harsh for them. And she constantly worked to help train the settlers how to survive in the harsh Virginia climate. In the end, while Matoaka was on a mission of peace, she was kidnapped by an enemy Indian nation and handed over to the Europeans as a prisoner, a prisoner of the people she had helped keep alive. She was converted to Christianity, given the Christian name Rebbecca, and married off to a European man. Matoaka had a son and moved to England with her husband. In England, Matoaka was used as a walking advertisement for the America's and the opportunities and adventures that existed there. Upon her return to the America's, Matoaka was taken ill and died. Her grave was lost when the church by which she was buried was rebuilt over her grave.

It's not as happy or romantic a story as Disney's Pocahontas would like it to be, I'm sure. It's the straight forward story of a diplomat, but I find it completely fascinating. It's the myths that have clouded our visions of her that drive me to find the truth. Who was she really? How did she grow up? How did she live and survive? What did she feel at her conversion and removal from her homeland? Where would she fit into history today if her story was told correctly? I seek to find out.

The Truth About Stories

In class we read The Truth About Stories by Thomas King. This book was very striking and once I started reading, I couldn't set it down. Though he said a great many profound things, there was one idea in particular that stuck with me the most. It was the idea that a story can change how you live your life. He writes that you shouldn't say I would have lived my life differently if only I had heard this story, because "You've heard it now." There was something about this comment that really struck home for me. I love to write. I write poetry, short stories, and novels in any spare time that I can find. I like to labor under the fantasy that my words will change how someone thinks or lives. That I will inspire someone with my words and bring something amazing into their lives. When I was little, I always said that if just one person is struck my book, then I'll be happy, that's all I want. I think that's why the idea of "You've heard it now" stood out so much. It's the idea that any story can alter the way we see the world. It can change our perception of a simple daily task or alter the whole course of our futures. This semester has been a whirlwind of life changing events, the stories being a major part of it. Native American Literature's and Cultures has opened my eyes to a whole new way of viewing the world. It's why I took the class, but I still didn't expect the eye-opening to be so amazing.

The Truth About Stories opened my eyes even more to the truth of the world, life, and the words I cling to. In the opening pages, King makes the statement "I tell the stories not to play on your sympathies but to suggest how stories can control our lives, for there is a part of me that has never been able to move past these stories, a part of me that will be chained to these stories as long as I live" (King 9). This is the idea that I've been searching for all my life. Plain and simple. It's changed my life. Whenever I sit down (or stand up) to write, I find myself flipping through the pages of my past looking for that one moment that will help people to understand where my character is coming from. However, I've never told my stories, personally. There are facets of my life in each of my characters. There are moments that make them change that also changed me. But my story, the whole dirty truth of it, stays buried deep inside of me, like an album tucked far under the bed, dusty and forgotten until the single moment that you need it. Sure I flip through the major moments of my life almost every day, but no one else does. I never knew why I kept my stories so secure, so close to the chest, as it were. But this statement makes it very clear. I never wanted sympathy. My stories, the major moments of my life, are what made me the person that I am and I like me, so why should anyone feel sorry for me. I couldn't stand it when people get that teary eyed look when you tell them something traumatic or big. I didn't feel that way, why should they. Sure, my stories do make me sad sometimes, there's a lot of pain there, but there's still a lot of good there too, and it's the good that I'm holding on to everyday. I don't think of a lost friend, and only see the funeral. I see all the happy times, all the laughing and the goofiness. I don't think of cancer, and see only IVs and my bald head. I see the day my hair started to grow back, and the minute I stepped back into a classroom. Sure there's pain, sure there's tears, but there's also strength and determination and life. Life is the key. Living is the key. My stories are about living, not just surviving (an important difference). And I wouldn't let my stories go for anything. They're mine and they're me. I'll keep them, but I won't be afraid to pass them on anymore either. Thomas King opened a door.

The Truth About Stories is one of the most amazing books I've read this semester (and that's a tough call--there were a lot of amazing ones in there). I will definitely be reading it--again and again. To see what else my world might be missing. I've heard it now, and now I'm going to live it.

King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.

Joy Harjo "I Am Not Ready to Die Yet"

Joy Harjo's "I Am Not Ready to Die Yet" was an extremely moving poem. Joy Harjo is an exceptionally talented artist who has lived a life defined by struggle, perseverance, and strength. Her struggles with depression and suicide, I feel, are reflected in many of her poems which was why I found this one so powerful. One of Harjo's new poems, I felt that it was a gateway, or a new perspective on life that can only be achieved through the window we open into poetry. The end of the first stanza stood out the most to me:

"My ashes will return there,
But I am not ready to die yet
Nor am I ready to leave the room
In which we made love last night."

These four lines say so much about life, death, and Harjo's views of these facts of life. There is a major idea of acceptance here that can be seen in the first line, "My ashes will return there." Harjo is accepting of death and the idea that we all return to the earth in the end. There is a symbiotic relationship represented that is undeniably beautiful and comforting. In the lines preceding these four, Harjo is personifying the water as a god that has commanded her presence in the past, just like the fishes that live there as she looks out over the great expanse. However, she is asserting in the next lines that while she bears a deep understanding of this spiritual relationship with the next phase of existence, she has also come to accept the hardships and joys of this life.

"But I am not ready to die yet" is far more powerful than it may seem at first glance. Knowing some of Harjo's background makes this line more intense, but the word choices themselves also add something to its impact. Understanding that Harjo struggled with suicidal tendencies as a younger person brings this line into perspective. By asserting that she isn't "ready to die yet" tells the audience that she has accepted her life and has made the choice to see it through. Also, by starting the line with "but" makes an immediate turn of perspective. The line before asserts an acceptance of death and as soon as the word "but" is seen, it jars the reader into a new line of thinking, thinking about life instead of death. It creates a mental switch that can occur when someone makes the conscious choice to live rather than die and by adding "but" to the beginning of the line, it causes the reader to experience the same sort of mental event.

I also love how Harjo places the spirituality of death in the same sentence/lines as making love. This adds a spiritual element to making love and reveals the emphasis that love and the physical act of love can have on a person's experience of life and their outlook on that life. Love is often a positive experience and her refusal to leave the room or to willingly die at that moment reveals that the speaker has found a deep, living connection with life. Again, there is a drawing in of the reader into the speaker's profound and intimate mental experiences. A very powerful element and an excellent poetic move.

Harjo's poetry is beautiful and moving. The poems are very personal but there are elements that allow the reader to peek into the speaker's intimate thoughts and mental processes. It associates the audience with a certain identity and makes the whole poem and experience for the reader, just as it was for the speaker. A very profound writer and a very talented woman, Joy Harjo certainly engages her readers and keeps us yearning for more.

Read Around Blog 2

After reading several of my classmates blogs, I found some very interesting views on the readings and activities we have done for class. One of my peers did an analysis of Qwo-Li Driskill's poem "Summer Haiku." Her focus on the language of the poem was fascinating and insightful. She saw the language as part of an easy going conversation. It's the type of language that would come up during a "comfortable silence" with someone we care about, to paraphrase her. I hadn't seen the poem in this form but I can definitely see where she's coming from. When I read the poem, I saw the language as word play, as a method for exploring the new fangled use of the English language. However, I can also see that it very conversational, a passing thought that arouses between friends. I also agreed with my peer on the view of the last line as one of a sensual nature. The line "cups my belly like water" certainly expresses an idea of closeness and harmony, and something erotic can easily be found lingering beneath the surface. I loved her analysis and her ideas and look forward to reading more of her ideas.

Another peer examined the article "Rape of the Land." He found the article disturbing and was amazed by the length of the corruption inflicted on both people's and their lands by corporations and the government. I completely agreed with him that this article was an eye-opener. I knew of the corruption and disregard for people's and their homelands that is harbored by certain large corporations and the government, but I had no idea of the extent. The idea that bombing occurred with the knowledge of it's harmful side effects near an island of people of this country is barbaric. The population was destroyed and still the government had the nerve to try and sweep it under the rug. "Rape of the Land" is an article that should not be suppressed but brought to the forefront so that other's will not live in the perpetual darkness that is tossed over by these corrupt corporations and the government.

The last peer blog that I read was reexamining the PBS special, "We Shall Remain." I completely agreed with her that the episode was an excellent portrayal of Native history intertwined with Western American history. Too often are the stories of the Native Americans put on the back burner, misrepresented, or credited to a mythological time that exists today only in Western movies. The directors, producers, and writers did an excellent job of portraying life shortly after the arrival of the Mayflower. My classmate also emphasized her interest in the tensions that existed between the Native American women and the Pilgrim women in the early colony. I also found this very interesting. You can see what the women are thinking as they work. For the Native American women, it is patience and then frustration as they try to teach the reluctant Pilgrim women how to cook and prepare food. For the Pilgrim women, you can see their religious tension mingled with their need to survive. There's a want on both women's parts to learn from the other for different reasons, but there's still the tension that their ways of life may be too different for them to comfortably mingle. A very fascinating observation.

My classmates have very insightful views and ideas and I look forward to reading more and hearing more of what they have to say on future topics.

We Shall Remain-Episode 1

"We Shall Remain: After the Mayflower" on PBS was enlightening and a fascinating view of the American history that is often forgotten, misconstrued, or deliberately left out. The episode focused on the Wampanog, an Algonquian tribe, that lived in, what is today, New England. Specifically, the episode followed the figures of Massasoit and then his son, Phillip, as they worked through different types of diplomacy and dealings with the European settlers. The different views of these men were interesting and their methods for dealing with the views impressed upon them by the whites was even more fascinating.
Massasoit was a sachem of the Wampanog tribe and he worked throughout his life for peace and harmony with the settlers. Massasoit believed that they could share the land and live as a single entity, a tribe of sorts. He saw the settlers as allies and a group of people that could help the Wampanog in their defenses against stronger enemy tribes. Greatly depleted from several ravaging diseases, the Wampanog were desperate for alliances. Upon seeing the white settlers in the same predicament, barely surviving their first winter on American shores, they decided that the settlers were also in need of help and believed that a quick friendship and alliance would grow from their negotiations. However, there was constant tension as the settlers had been run out of Europe on account of being religious radicals. Because of their religious beliefs, the settlers saw the Native Americans as a source of corruption and temptation. The two groups did, however, manage to keep the tensions to a minimum as survival was the key importance for both. For a number of years, the settlers and the Wampanog's were able to live in peace together.

Trouble came with further colonies though. As time went on, more and more Europeans began flooding into New England and setting up their colonies. The Puritans presented the largest problem as they saw the Native Americans as heathens and obstacles on their path to trading posts and further expansion. The Puritans viewed the Native Americans as less than human and started to force their religious views on them. Praying Towns began to pop up and Native Americans began to be converted to this strict sect of Christianity. I found it fascinating that the Puritans, full of fear and guilt themselves, impressed these feelings on the Native Americans and used fear of damnation and guilt of praying to multiple gods, or even being emotionally attached to their own hair, to warrant a conversion.

Massasoit continued to try to work peacefully with the settlers. However, as the settlers began swindling land from Massasoit and the Wampanog, he began to grow frustrated and resisted their further attempts to claim his land. Massasoit began to feel that peace in the early years may have been the wrong choice and he saw that he and his people were facing an invasion of their lands, their lives, and their beliefs.

Massasoit's son, Phillip, was born after the settlers had arrived and had lived all his life in their presence. He had several European ways and even carried a European name. However, he was not an ally of the Puritans and would eventually lead a band of Wampanog in an attack on several colonies. After their first raid, other Native American tribes joined Phillip's cause and fought against the invasion of their lands and ways of life. King Phillip's War escalated and for a long time they enjoyed victory after victory. Striking fear into the hearts of the settlers, they struck anger into the hearts of the Mohawks. The Mohawks were allied with the settlers and eventually took up arms against the other Native American tribes that were under Phillip's leadership. King Phillip's War soon came to an end with Phillip on the side of defeat. He returned to his homeland that was even further claimed by settlers and there he was captured, executed, and dismembered. His head was put on a stake and kept in a Puritan colony to remind Native American tribes the risks of moving against the crown.

This was an extremely interesting show and I look forward to seeing next Monday's episode, Tecumseh's Vision.

On a side note, it was fascinating to me that they followed up this riveting and informing episode about true American history with a show that focused on Westerner's searching through their family history for ancestor's in the original colonies in the New World. One woman expressed her pride in having an ancestor who had been the only survivor of the first "Indian attack." The images were stereotypical Western views of history and the Native Americans were portrayed as the savage attackers of Puritan belief. The idea that was expressed implied that the settlers had been peaceful and had done nothing to invoke the attack upon their village. This, however, as we had learned a mere ten minutes earlier, was untrue. I found the juxtaposition of these two views of American history to be fascinating and extremely enlightening.

Song of Removal by Qwo-Li Driskill

"Song of Removal" by Qwo-Li Driskill asks its reader to think about colonization and the forced removal of Native Americans from their homelands from an interesting perspective. I'm going to examine on stanza in particular that struck me the most.

"And while Disney paints Pocahontas the great white wet dream
while Russell Means sells out
military occupation of our homes persists
We are still being removed"

The first line of this stanza is very powerful on its own. To many, Disney is a benign childhood dream creator. He paints the picture of the elegant and strong princess again and again. But what about the underlying context or the cultural ramifications of the story that he's telling. Pocahontas was a real woman who lived her life and died very young. She played a major role in the peace negotiations between her tribe and the British settlers at Jamestown. She saved John Smith's life and later married John Rolfe before moving to England. She is undoubtedly a very important woman in both Native American and Western cultures, but how has the story been altered to better appeal to a Western audience. The story was changed from a fight against assimilation and destruction to a romance story about a princess and the young knight-like figure. Disney's Pocahontas remains in a position of resistance and power but it is somewhat diminished by the twisted facts. This story, that should really be about the Native American resistance and their culture's fight for survival, is turned into a Western love story. The Native Americans are being removed even from their own history and Pocahontas has been rewritten as something of a fantasy instead of a woman who lived and fought for peace for her people.

The idea of Disney being juxtaposed with military occupation is also an interesting point that struck me. Disney is not often associated with violent or submissive acts, but here it is placed in the same stanza as the forced removal of Native Americans from their homelands. Disney in itself is a culture. By being placed alongside this idea of military action, the idea of Disney's culture invading the Native American culture is solidified. Disney's improvisations with the story of Pocahontas is a forced removal of the Native American purpose and implications of the true story. Disney can mass produce his version and thus the Native American version and the truth are forced out.

There is this idea that Native American cultures are struggling from every aspect to survive. It is more than just land and religious views, it has infiltrated into their very history and memories. "Song of Removal" really delves into the extent to which Native American cultures have been exploited, lost, and destroyed and how they are still being invaded and forced out of popular culture.

Qwo-Li Driskill and Walking with Ghosts

In class we read the poetry collection Walking with Ghosts by Qwo-Li Driskill and I found it to be extremely moving, beautiful, and powerful. The combinations of struggles that have been incorporated into each poem is amazing and offers such a vision to the reader. Qwo-Li illuminates his words with images of Native American activism, transgender and gay struggles, identity crisis's, and the idea of sovereignty--both of the land and of the body. I found each poem to be such a powerful expression of emotions and ideas that it was difficult to pick a favorite or even just two, but for the sake of analysis, I have attempted to do just that.

The poem "For Matthew" was so powerful and emotionally explosive. The reader gains a real sense of loss, confusion, and even betrayal. From my point-of-view, I saw the poem as the outpouring of grief over the death of someone we never imagined missing from our lives and the struggle to comprehend how something like this could happen. The opening lines, "I found my body collapsible, choking on your death like a small child who seeks to understand by stuffing pennies and marbles into mouth" is a perfect description of the indescribable emotion. If you've ever lost someone in your life, this is the emotion that seems to filter through those first, unimaginable moments. It's the stage before we can put anything into words or even into order. The idea of trying to make sense of such a tragedy by reverting to an early, underdeveloped stage of our lives is unique and perfect. The final lines also hold such an impact that it's impossible not to be stirred into action or to feel as Qwo-Li is feeling as he writes these lines.
"We have no more time for symbols.
We have no more time for vigils.
We have no more time..."
The idea of time is something that the human race developed for its own purpose and then has spent the time trying to figure out what time is. We have an idea that there is always more and that we are the ultimate commanders of our movement through time. But these lines reveal the anxiety and the truth that we so often seek to avoid. This truth is so often revealed to us when someone is lost. It's the idea that time is out of our control and that we can't stop it for anyone or anything. After losing someone we love, time seems to act unmercifully and marches forward without our preparation or readiness. Also, these lines emphasize people's desire to memorialize a person, the want to remove them from their skin and thus away from the ultimate, harsh truth of their reality. However, Qwo-Li addresses the fact that this isn't possible. That Matthew Shepard was a person, a person who lived and breathed just as we all do now. There isn't a moment to detach him or make him a banner of the injustices inflicted on the gay or transgender community. There's a call to action because he was human, not because he was a symbol. These lines reverberate his humanity, the fact that he lived and wasn't simply a face on a poster board. The very last line of the poem reads, "you were still alive." There's a definite emphasis on his living juxtaposed against his tragic death. His life is a reason to fight back. There's a need to fight for what he lived for before using him as an example for what he died for.

This poem harbors a lot of anger as well that I found moving and undeniably passionate. "In Seattle, 1000 lit candles, (I wanted the city to burn.)" These two lines alone pack a punch that is hard for some to deal with. Such aggression can be perceived as blind hatred or misunderstanding, but truly, this is an act of emotion and a lashing out while seeking understanding. The hatred here is directed towards the crime, not the city or people in it. It's a way of dealing with pain and devastation, to see the world burning around you is a distraction. This anger is a distraction from the piercing pain.

"For Matthew" was an extraordinary poem that moved me in such a powerful way. It speaks more than just to the community in which Matthew Shepard found his true identity, it really speaks to anyone who believes in humanity and the right for people to live their lives. Its grief and agony speaks to anyone who's lost someone in a tragedy and it calls on us to act and remember how they lived instead of just how they died. The life will give us something even more powerful to fight for.

The Human Body and the Environment

In Native American Literature class, we discussed an article titled "Rape of the Land" by Andrea Smith. In this article, Smith discusses the ties of women's bodies to the land and how the pollution and destruction of the land is also the destruction and pollution of the women's bodies. This idea is tough to get your head around and seemed very far fetched. However, I've taken the time to try and consider what Smith was talking about and have formed what this idea can mean to me.

In today's society, there is a great deal of waste, pollution, and expansion. The world is growing, the population rising above the limits of earth's resources. In response to this crisis, mankind has resolved to expand into the limits of nature, removing forests and natural lands to make way for cities and buildings, roads and lines of cloned houses. Chemicals are used to create the food we eat and are even put into our drinking water. Chemicals are used to create almost everything we use on a day to day basis and those items continue to release their own pollutants and chemicals into the atmosphere, such as hairspray and cars. All this chemical stress can only lead to destruction on multiple levels, one of those levels being the destruction of bodies--both the environment's and our own. And in response to this stress, the bodies begin to die or malfunction.

One of Smith's arguments is that a woman's body is affected by the same chemicals and pollution that the Earth is. When a land is bombarded with nuclear weapons, it isn't just the environment that is destroyed by the lingering chemicals, but the women as well. When a woman's body is affected by a chemical or pollutant, their womb, and then their babies, are also affected. The chances of giving birth to a child with a defect becomes increasingly higher when a woman's body has been invaded by chemicals. Cancer rates alone are an example of the negative affects of chemicals on our bodies. As our society becomes more and more dependent on artificial modes of living, the more our bodies respond negatively.

The idea that people and the environment are linked is not a new idea or a tough one to understand at that. It's the idea that we and the environment suffer the same that seems difficult to grasp. But really it's not such a stretch. In the past few years, the climate has shifted in such a way that people can finally notice it's change. As a result of overly harsh winters, the ground remains frozen too long, and the runoff from rain and snow melts becomes too extreme. Farmers are feeling the pinch of environmental change as crops continue to fail due to the lack of rain in the summer and the over exertion of winter, snow, and ice. The environment is unable to produce, or reproduce due to the negative affects of pollution. As the environment fails to reproduce, so do we. Babies born with birth defects, men and women who are rendered infertile, or people who die of starvation are examples that link us with the environment. For so long, people have thought themselves above the environment and in control of it's production and destruction. But in truth, we are all connected and all affected by the pollution that we are putting into the air and into the Earth. It's the idea that we need to realize our dependence on the Earth and stop holding our heads too high to see the facts. People like to believe that we are alone, that we are in control, and that we need only depend on our minds to think up the next great step of existence. But today we are at a turning point, a point where it is imperative to realize our interdependence with nature and the Earth. A point where our bodies and the Earth's body are tied in the same battle for health.

Indigenous Feminism and Gynocentrism

Native American cultures are continuously seeking to reform their native governments, rights, and sovereignty over their land and their peoples. One important movement that is fighting to reestablish the Native Americans place in this overwhelming Western culture is indigenous feminism. Indigenous feminism is not simply feminism as Westerner's know it. It isn't solely about the rights of women and their elevation to equal status. It's about sovereignty and the political rights of women and even the men within the Native tribes and communities. It's about the equality of Native people's and their rights to function as their own nations within the country that was once theirs. After years of patriarchal oppression, the Native Americans, both female and male, are speaking out and fighting to regain their proper rights.

One issue that is continuously brought to the forefront is the idea of gynocentrism. Gynocentrism is a form of living and a political structure in which the women are the primary caretakers of the tribes and communities. Life is organized in a cyclical, repeating manner that allow for growth without distance. Even in writing, the idea of gynocentrism can be seen. In Paula Gunn Allen's book, The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions, Allen seeks to establish the argument's for women, feminism, sovereignty, and gender issues through a cyclical compilation of essays. She constantly allows the essays to double back on issues that had been previously discussed. This method allowed for the reinforcement of ideas and the feeling of community within the book. For example, Allen discusses in the first section of the book, the relationships of women to the tribal mythologies, such as Thought Woman. Throughout the rest of the book, in both the second and third section, the ideas established in the first section are referred back to and expanded upon. Though this may seem redundant at times, it creates an identity within the text that allows the reader to open their minds and absorb and consider the new ideas. For non-Native readers, Sacred Hoop is an opportunity to view another culture from inside the culture's ideals and structure. In the fight for rights, freedom from oppression, and the reestablishment of the old ways, Allen's book offers a prime example of how gynocentrism functions within the ideas of indigenous feminism. Indigenous feminism brings our attention to the rights and both the women within Native cultures and the rights of the cultures themselves and gynocentrism is the idea that is struggling to be regained. It's the cultural ideal that brings women back into the main circle of political and equal life, while also bringing forth the idea of a structure that allows the tribes and communities to function, prosper, remember, and grow.

The Ancient Child by N. Scott Momaday

"The Ancient Child" by N. Scott Momaday, copyright 1934, ISBN 0-385-27972-8, and published through Doubleday, is a story about the crisis of identity and one man’s struggle to discover his true self. Written as four books, "The Ancient Child" explores the undeniable tie to identity and the discovery of how the soul truly exists. Through dreams, visions, myths, dialogue, and thought processes the reader begins to discern the true nature of the main characters and their acquisition and acceptance of their true identity.

The story focuses on Set, a middle-aged artist living in San Francisco. Born as a Kiowa Indian, Set was adopted by a white family and moved away from the reservation. As an older man, Set finds himself losing his identity to demanding patrons and losing the integrity of his soul by bending to their every will. After the death of his grandmother, Set returns to the reservation in Oklahoma where he meets the very young and beautiful medicine woman, Grey. Grey is a free spirit that possesses a calm and wise-beyond-her-years demeanor. Often ensnared by dreams of the notorious Billy the Kid, Grey finds herself struggling to find satisfaction and purpose in her own life. Together, Set and Grey set off to reconnect with something they had lost along the way. Set suffers a mental breakdown after returning to San Francisco and is returned to Grey, who teaches him to embrace his true nature as the bear and accept his Kiowa existence (Momaday).

The story couples myth and reality as way of juxtaposing the different societies, Native American vs. Western. Also, through the use of distinct dialogical differences the reader can further gather where a character is heralding from and how they tie their identity to their homeland. In the case of Grey, she possesses one dialect when with her Kiowa family, and another when she’s with her mother and the Navajo’s.

"The Ancient Child" is truly a masterful work that combines the sweet poetic language of a dream world with ruthless punches of reality to create a story that can resound through the hearts of readers across generational and cultural boundaries. Through the use of Spanish, Navajo, and Kiowa words and phrases, the reader becomes embroiled in the world of Momaday and the depth of the lives of these struggling characters. The beauty of the world that surrounds these characters is often eclipsed by their desperation for a true and whole identity and the harshness of their realities. Delicately portrayed and profoundly thought provoking, "The Ancient Child" is truly a work of art.

Momaday, N. Scott. "The Ancient Child." New York: Doubleday, 1934.

Galena and the Footsteps of Ghosts

I come from a very small town where nothing ever happens and the town is still frozen in the early 1900's era. The buildings are all standing still, waiting for their old builders and inhabitants to return. The house of Ulysses S. Grant is still decorated and open for the public to gawk at. But there was a time when Galena was the hub of Illinois. It rivaled Chicago in size and it was a toss up between which of the two would take the ultimate precedence in the state. Before the river silted in, Galena was the place where everything happened and the people who were searching for the right people or just the right opportunities flocked. One of these people was a Native American, Seneca to be exact, named Ely S. Parker. When Parker came to Galena he was a newly graduated Civil Engineer and Grand Sachem of the Seneca's. He was perpetually searching for those cultural boundaries that laid (and still to lie) between the white Americans and the Native Americans and fighting to ease the conflict between them. Parker came to Galena to build, to add to the splendor and help it thrive and ripen past that of Chicago. He built the Custom's House (today the Post Office) and the U.S. Marine Hospital. From the pictures that exist from Parker's time in Galena (shortly before the break out of the Civil War) the town looks very much the same as it does today, minus the steamboats jostling along the river front. The Custom's House still stands and in fact, I was just parked right in front of it about a week ago. It's incredible, really, to see my little town as a hub of activity and the center stone of ideas. Parker and Grant met in Galena and become friends, holding a bond all through the Civil War and long after Grant's run as President of the United States. As I walked down the streets of Galena, I couldn't help but feel in awe of what this now stagnant town had once meant to the country. Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in the town, the building and it's porch still there. Grant lived there with his family before the Civil War and before becoming President. Ely S. Parker discovered the full depths of his purpose and the extent to which he could help his people. It's easy to walk through town, when you're a local, and forget the history and the excitement. It's simple to see the town as a tourist center, with nothing really left to offer besides trinkets and crumbling buildings. But the truth is that Galena still rings with the beats of those in the past. Despite the men and women being gone, their homes and creations still harbor solidly in our streets. I don't get homesick very often but there's something about Galena that can always bring you back. It may be that America, such a young country in the consideration of the rest of the world, is not so young in Galena. We're reminded, every day, in Galena that footsteps belonging to the ghosts of the past are still hammering through the streets. We exist side-by-side in the hopes of never forgetting where we came from and who has fought to structure our world.

Oral Storytelling and Speeches

When I first started Native American Literature's and Cultures class, I was extremely nervous about the prospect of giving several speeches throughout the semester. My mind in denial, I couldn't see the need to give speeches. I'm an English major, give me pen and paper and I'll write you as much as you want on any subject. But public speaking is definitely not my medium. However, as the semester has progressed, I've discovered something new about giving speeches. In Native American cultures, much of their story telling exists orally. They may write some things down, but when it's written, there's always the idea that it will freeze, and resist change, eventually losing its relevancy and fading out. At first I found this hard to believe. It seems that it would be easier to lose something that is only committed to a few people's memories. But maybe this isn't so. In the Medieval era, most storytelling was oral across the cultures. When the first stories were written down, there was also a plethora of stories circling around their new found fragility. When we write a story down, we allow our memories so ease and thus we retain less of the story line and words. It isn't necessary to memorize a story if you can just pick it up and review it when needed. But many manuscripts from this time have been lost to termites, fire, and other sorts of destruction. So while we depend so strongly on written storytelling, there seems to be a number of ways to lose it.

In relation to speeches, this made me think for a minute. I love to write. It's my best form of communication and the most enjoyable. But perhaps there is something important to learn from speaking out loud. On the paper, words are just words. They hold no body language or connotation, they leave a lot of the tone up to the reader. This, however, is not always ideal. While I hope that my stories can apply to a number of different people and inspire the minds of those from all different walks of life, there things that are just never meant to be altered. Though I'm scared to death to get in front of the class and talk, I can see that it relates in an important way to the different modes of storytelling. I'm still telling my story, but this time so that the audience can also see and hear what I feel and mean behind each little word and expression. It's really rather more exciting to look at it this way... and a little less nerve racking.

The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paula Gunn Allen

Paula Gunn Allen’s The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions is compilation of essay’s that discuss topics ranging from Native American mythology and origin stories to feminism to spiritual identity and balance. Broken down into three major sections, the book works in a cyclical nature to continually remind us about the importance of the Native American gynocentric cultures and to reinforce the identity of the Native American communities. The first section, “The Ways of our Grandmothers” discusses the importance of women in Native American cultures and the expression of this importance in the origin stories of different nations. The second section, “The Word Warriors” focuses on the different methods of story telling, in particular oral story telling, several major themes of Native American literatures, and the importance of stories to Native American cultures. As an example, Allen discusses the importance of spirituality and how stories unite as well as identify with the people of that culture. She discusses the importance of lore and compares several Western literary traditions to those of several prominent Native American writers. The third section, “Pushing up the Sky” brings together female roles, spirituality, and identity to bring forth the ideas of social identity, gender roles, and Native American feminism. Through a comparative exercise, she explains the differences of gender identification and societal views in Western and Native American cultures.

Overall, the book was an eye-opener. It challenges typical Western views of female roles, literature, gender identity, and Native American cultures in general. Allen focuses on the gynocentric methods typical of Native American cultures but also employs Western comparative strategies so as to bring a non-Native American reader into closer relation with the text. She most effectively uses this method while discussing gender roles within Native American communities and the Westerner’s fear of gender bending and overall homophobia. Allen successfully portrays the acceptance of personal identification and the importance of being in tune with the bodies true desires. Native American cultures will assign societal roles based on a person’s social gender identity, rather than their biological make-up, an idea that Western cultures are yet to grasp.

Paula Gunn Allen is seeking to challenge our ideas of Western cultures and our views of Native American cultures. She’s establishing the voices of Native Americans and in particular Native American women. By gathering different author’s and their essays into one collective text, Allen effectively argues for Native American identity and the American Indian’s rights as individual, unique, and strong systems of government and cultures.

If you’re searching for the book that will challenge your ideas and open your mind to another mode of thinking, then The Sacred Hoop is definitely a perfect choice. Allen’s unique approach to the arguments presented in this text are profound and well-thought out. It leaves the reader thinking long after you’ve finished. It’s a wonderful collection of culture and identity and definitely worth the read.

Winnemucca

In Western culture, we are used to looking through a lens at cultures that we may not understand or that we know little about. It becomes a challenge for the people with stifled voices to be heard and the dominant culture, or colonizing culture, is content with slapping stereotypes and broad ideas to the cultures that are being shut out. For many people, this is not a situation that they are content with. Throughout history, the voices of those being dominated have screamed out and reminded the world that they are still here and active and will be heard. For the Native Americans, and specifically the Paiutes, Sarah Winnemucca is one of those triumphant voices. As a public speaker, translator, writer, and orator, Winnemucca has ingrained herself in history and in the memories of both Native Americans and Westerners.

Winnemucca took the path less travelled and joined her brother and father (Chief of the Paiute tribe) in the fight for freedom and justice from the imposition of Western culture. She occupied a role dominantly held by men and brought attention to her people, transporting them to one of the most famous tribes in Native American history. I found her fascinating because she found herself in a position of those most unheard. As a Native American and a woman in the 19th century, Winnemucca had to fight harder than most to make her voice heard. She found herself embroiled in one of the first great waves of feminism and helped people to understand that a difficult truth is better than a simple stereotype. Winnemucca reached out to those that would give her a chance, which was an ingenious move. Elizabeth Peabody, a leader in the feminist movement, became an ally of Winnemucca and helped her to find a place in history. The alliance with Peabody was a very intelligent move as it provided Winnemucca with a platform and a strong base of women and men that were already involved with the feminist movement and thus supported the humanist cause (Zanjani).

By the end of Winnemucca's life, she had gained the respect of thousands of people. Her father, the chief of her tribe, said that "none of us are worthy of being chief but her" (Zanjani 1). This is a powerful sentiment and displays the impact and power that Winnemucca brought to the fight for Native American justice.

Zanjani, Sally. Sarah Winnemucca. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.

Manoomin

Manoomin, or Wild Rice, is a staple of Anishinaabeg culture. It is believed that wild rice was given to the Anishinaabeg people by a spiritual entity. The Creator told the people that their migration West would be over when they came upon the "food which grows upon the water" (LaDuke). And indeed it was. Wild rice has become a community tie. The activity of harvesting the rice brings the people together and creates a firm sense of community and tradition that is purely Ojibwe (savewildrice.org). The Anishinaabeg people see wild rice as more than just sustenance (which is wild rice's major role), they see it as a spiritual food, one that feeds the soul (savewildrice.org).

The Anishinaabeg draw a major part of their identity from the harvesting and consumption of wild rice. The myths and legends of wild rice go back in their history to more than a 1000 years ago (savewildrice.org). One myth is about a man who failed to kill a deer during his hunt. In his dismay, he returned to his campsite and found a duck sitting on him black cooking kettle. He approached the duck and it flew away. Looking into the pot, he saw the rice floating in it, but didn't yet know what it was. He ate the soup and loved it so much that he followed the path the duck had taken and found a lake full of the rice. He saw all the birds that were eating the rice and knew that if he ever failed again to kill a deer, he could still find food for his family (savewildrice.org). The fact that this story exists displays the importance of this food to the Anishinaabeg people.

Wild rice, or manoomin, is an important element in Ojibwe people's survival and cultural identity. They see the wild rice as a food that is uniquely their's (LaDuke). For hundreds of years, manoomin has been intertwined with their everyday lives, from the harvesting season to the survival in harsh winters. It's a gathering point for the community and a tie to their ancestral past.

LaDuke, Winona. Manoomin Wild Rice, Biodiversity and Bio Piracy. 2003. 7 March 2009. ibrary/uploadedfiles/ISSUE_BRIEF_Manoomin_Wild_Rice_Biodiversity_an.
doc+manoomin&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us>.

Save Wild Rice "Anishinaabeg Culture and the History of Manoomin." 2005. Savewildrice.org. 7 March 2009. <http://www.savewildrice.org/history>.

Memory, Place, and Blood

I am fascinated by the idea of oral storytelling and the elements that can stir or remind us of those stories. To me, oral story telling is a far more intimate and sacred form of storytelling. When the words are put to the page, something is lost. Though it can still have a beauty, the elements of drama and performance and relationship with the author is lost. To tell a story orally, you need to feel comfortable with your audience and your surroundings. When we tell a story to our friends, it’s not usually done while walking across the street, but rather in a coffee shop you frequent or your living room. For Native Americans, the place for storytelling is just as important as the story itself. The ancient stories are based in the land and surrounding environment that, very often, the story originated in.

Native Americans and all of us really, relate stories from another source as well. Those passed down from generation to generation. While we create our own stories in our lifetime about our adventures, triumphs, and tribulations, our ancestors have stories to tell as well. There is nothing that I love more than sitting with my grandma, listening to her stories from childhood. The way of life was different, the importance of values that too easily get lost in the hustle of the modern day world. But through the stories that she tells, I can embrace and relive the days of calm and happiness with her. And then, when I have children, I can tell her stories to them and the ideas that she was transposing to me will pass on to them as well. In this way, the ideas and values behind those stories will never be lost, and in another essence, neither will my grandma.

In Native American culture, this idea of storytelling that is passed on to the next, very often teaches a lesson or a story that the next generation can embrace and learn from. For example, in the Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich, Omakya’s family members tell stories to teach the children in the family lessons. Omakaya’s father tells the story of man-eating ghosts that lived on an island along their fishing/hunting path. It seems fantastical and entertaining, the idea of these hungry female presences arguing over his flesh and his daring escape from their clutches. But beneath it lurks a lesson about brashness and the importance of the advice of others. Her father had been warned about the island, told of its dangers, and yet he and his men settled there for the night regardless. This almost led to their demise if it had not been for his bravery and quick-thinking.

Oral storytelling has a lot to offer. Beyond the story and its elements, there is the relationship to the audience and the ability to captivate and enthrall them with theatrical and personal elements. To see the speaker, to read their eyes rather than their words, to hear their tone and diction, and to understand the person who opens up enough to you to tell such a tale is the beauty behind oral storytelling. It creates a bond between the storyteller and the audience that allows for an entirely different experience in the story. It’s an art that should never be overlooked and should never be forgotten.

Humor, History, and Stereotypes

After reading several blogs by fellow classmates, I found myself very much in agreement with what was being said. In one blog, a peer wrote of the purpose of humor in Sherman Alexie's book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I agreed with her blog that humor is an excellent way of reaching across cultural, and even age boundaries. Through humor, a person can become more relaxed and open about their views and struggles, allowing them to be more relate able. Through humor, the audience is less likely to be on the defensive and therefore more receptive to what the speaker has to say.
Another blog discussed the views of the colonizer upon the colonized. I totally agreed that many Westerners fell a sense of patrimony to the Native Americans. The idea that we must "take care" of the indigenous peoples due to our superior intellect. This idea is of course, completely bogus. The Native Americans culture was in no way less advanced than that of the Europeans who conquered this land. Their culture was simply misunderstood and the Europeans viewed it with a sense of arrogance. Because they could not immediately understand the inner workings of the Native Americans lifestyle and culture, they assumed it to be primitive. This view of the "primitive" Native American has filtered down to the people of today through a history that was written by the white conqueror. This is a terrible tragedy and misrepresentation of Native American cultures.
The last blog that I viewed spoke of the stereotypes shown in children's books. I agreed with my classmates argument that Peter Pan represents the "Redskins" in a favorable, and certainly unoffensive light. The context of the story, the history behind it, and the plot need to be considered in literature before it can be labeled offensive, I believe. When the story was written, the views of Native Americans were limited to the stereotypes. In the early 1900's, the idea of the "cowboy's and Indian's" and the Wild West were emerging at full force. To an Englishman, as Barrie was, the idea of the "Redskin" was probably fascinating and yet unrelatable to him. The Native American is just that, native of America, of which Barrie was not. Also, the story is a fantasy, a children's fantasy at that. Many of the element's of Peter Pan are over-the-top and fantastic, which generally brings out the stereotypes in all groups represented in the story. For instance, the character of John is presented as the proper English gentlemen with black top hat and manners. He's a stereotype as well. It's more like child's play rather than adults poking insults at other cultures.
I found this exercise to be very informative and interesting and I look forward to seeing what else my classmates think and feel about Native American Literature's and Cultures.

Sherman Alexie and Indian Humor

After reading Vine Deloria, Jr's chapter, "Indian Humor" from her book Custer Died for your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, it made me see Sherman Alexie's novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, more clearly.

Vine Deloria's novel teaches us about the use of humor in everyday life for Native Americans. It is a method for dealing with the past, tragedies, and rivals, to name only a few. The ability to laugh at yourself is key to being able to live with the world around you and yourself, and Deloria's descriptions of Indian humor and humor traditions seem to elaborate on this idea beautifully. Throughout history, Native Americans have been suppressed and exploited. Their past is riddled with pain and suffering, such as small pox, the Trail of Tears, and the forced settlement on reservations. But despite their very troubled past, the Native American communities have maintained their sense of humor, often about these very events. It seems that the humor allows them to deal with the past without sinking into the melancholy that has so dominated the issues they joke about. It also allows the cultures to maintain an identity with themselves and other tribes. For example, two tribes that may have been bitter enemies in the past, will now tease each other about the rivalry of the old days. It allows both tribes to keep their identities in tact, by remembering and still prodding about their differences.

In Sherman Alexie's novel, humor plays a very important role throughout the entire text. For example, when Junior's grandmother passes away, his mother finds reason to laugh at the funeral. Despite their terrible grief, the family and friends of Grandmother find joy in her life and the mistakes of greedy millionaires. Through their laughter, everyone is able to cope with their loss and move ahead with their lives without forgetting those who have died. Junior also finds numerous points of humor in his awkwardness and disabilities. It's a coping mechanism and a realization that he is not dominated by the set backs of his life. Throughout the story, Junior is extremely determined to prove his worth to both his tribe and his classmates at Reardon, and he shows his determination best through the events that he can laugh about, such as his "water on the brain" illness and his differences from the white students of Reardon.

Humor is a key part to all of our lives. It helps us to live and thrive without dwelling on the sadness or loss in our life. We can look back on the past and remember the happier times or simply embrace the past we have through a more light-hearted lens. For Native Americans, this humor is woven into their traditions, such as Trickster stories, and into their everyday lives and identities. Through their humor, the Native Americans assert who they are and what they believe. It's a way to remember their past and to continue moving into the present with their cultures and identities intact.

American Indians in Children's Literature

After reading Dr. Debbie Reese's blog, "American Indians in Children's Literature" I was astounded by the portrayals of American Indians in so many books that I enjoyed as a child. These representations are stereotypical and sometimes even extremely racist. However, as children, they slip by us unnoticed, to be carried subconsciously with us through life.

For example, Curious George portrays Native Americans in a very stereotypical fashion. In the his alphabet book, the small letter T is portrayed with a tomahawk, as Dr. Reese points out. The page then describes a Native American using a tomahawk and living in a tepee. Not all Native American cultures used tomahawks or lived in tepees, yet as children, we come to believe that they do. When we think of Native Americans, this is the image that comes forth. The native with a full headdress, war paint, tomahawk, and living in a tepee. It's upsetting to see so many unique cultures blanketed into one idea, giving so many children around the world only one idea of such a vast array of people.

After reading Dr. Reese's blog, I was able to focus more critically on Sherman Alexie's novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. Alexie is a Spokane Indian who grew up in Wellpinit, part of an Indian reservation. He writes the story as a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story for the young protagonist, Arnold Spirit (Junior). When I read this text, I focused on the differences between the stereotypical views of non-Indian texts and the more real views of Alexie's. In Little House on the Prairie, for example, the Native Americans are portrayed as uncivilized savages that were meant to be feared. However, in Alexie's novel, the Native Americans are like everyone else, they attend school, hold funerals for lost family members, and play basketball. They are multi-faceted and vary in traditions and dreams. They are real characters in real situations, not just the backdrop addition to a frontier story.

After reading Dr. Reese's blog, I will certainly be reading texts more critically and with a more open mind to the devices and motivation of the author.

Resistance or Assimilation?

In The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich, we learn about a young Anishinabe girl named Omakaya. Omakaya and her people are faced with a number of issues, one of which is the choice of assimilation or resistance to an invading culture. Throughout the story, the family’s existence depends partly on the French traders that are working with the Native American’s in the area. Also, there is a mission school that is teaching people of the tribe how to read, write, and speak English. These details are anything but insignificant. The Ojibwa are faced with an invasion of their way of life by that of English speaking peoples. While many of the people of the tribe are accepting of these ideas, there is still an underlying uneasiness, suggested most prominently in Fishtail’s desire to learn English so that the tribe will not be cheated in any treaties they make with the Europeans.

The Birchbark House is, in my view, a story of assimilation and resistance. In the example of Fishtail, we are presented with a man who embraces his way of life but is faced with certain immovable obstacles. In an attempt to preserve the tribe’s existence as it is, Fishtail must actually partially assimilate to the other culture. He attends the mission school to learn English. While solely for the purpose of protecting his people, he is also opening the doors for change. He understands that there are dynamics to existing side-by-side with different cultures and therefore chooses to assimilate in a way by learning their language. However, he resists the other culture by learning the language only to preserve his way of life.

Another example of assimilation and resistance appears in the form of Andeg, Omakaya’s pet crow. Andeg is brought into the family after Omakaya discovers him trapped in a net she and her sister were using to capture crows for food. She spares him since the family has no need for more food and decides to care for him. Andeg becomes domesticated under her care but still retains his earlier wild demeanor, represented best by his leaving with the other crows for a while at the end of the novel and returning with a fear of humans. Andeg becomes assimilated to the life of the family. He learns to trust them and participates in their daily activities. He rides on Omakaya’s shoulder and watches over Pinch as he “guards” the berries. Andeg grows accustomed to domestic life. He even learns a little of their language, yelling at Pinch for messing around in the boat. But while Andeg assimilates to much of the family’s domestic life, he also resists. Andeg retains some of his inhibitions about humans. After Omakaya’s mother throws a rock at him, Andeg never trusts her again. He recalls a part of his wild behavior and holds on to that through the rest of the novel. Also, at the end, Andeg rejoins a flock of crows for a while, living their way of life. However, he does return at the end but with reservations about the people. He will only come to them after Pinch stands completely still and allows Andeg to land upon his head. Andeg is embracing part of his pre-domestic life and resisting complete assimilation into Omakaya’s family. This again, reveals The Birchbark House as a work that accepts both assimilation and resistance.

Gender Roles in The Birchbark House

In The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich, we learn about a young Anishinabe girl named Omakaya. While this story addresses several important issues, such as sovereignty, spirituality, and disease, the story also touches upon the significance of gender roles and how they can be altered or bent.

The most significant example of the altering of gender within this story occurs with the tragedy of the small pox epidemic. During the deep winter, Omakaya’s family and much of the tribe are taken ill by the introduction of small pox into their village. During this time, much of the corn, rice, and scavenged foods that were gathered in the fall are running low. It is up to Omakaya’s father, Deydey, to supply the family with additional food through hunting. However, Deydey, who is supposed to be a primary care taker of the family, becomes severely stricken with small pox. He weakens and must move into the sick hut with the other ill members of the family. The only ones that remain healthy are Omakaya and her grandmother. So, the healthy ones take full responsibility for the ill, including her father. The roles here become reversed as the typical care taker is cared for by the dependent. Omakaya helps to protect her father from the disease’s side effects, including insanity. One night, while her father is suffering from an extremely high fever, he loses his mind and attempts to walk outside into the freezing cold, where he would surely freeze to death. Omakaya takes it upon herself to save him and hits him upon the head, knocking him out. While the act itself stuns Omakaya, she knows that it was the right thing to do. Since Deydey is unconscious, he can no longer do himself harm. Omakaya puts him to bed and watches over him through the night.

Omakaya takes over the care of the man who is typically caring for her. By stepping into this role, Omakaya is bending the rules of her gender. She does this in particular when she uses her strength to care for and protect her father. Another example of a gender issue includes the strength and masculine activities of Omakaya’s cousin, Two Strike Girl. Noted for being stronger than many of the boys in the village, Two Strike Girl steps out of the boundaries of typical feminine behavior. She abhors female activities, such as beading, and excels in the more masculine activities, such as dancing on the rice.

Trudell

John Trudell is an American Indian rights activist and poet/musician. Since the 70’s, Trudell has diligently worked to secure sovereignty and land rights, to tap the surface, for American Indians. Trudell is important to American Indian Studies because he’s been seen as the “Socrates of Native Americans” and the “Champion of indigenous people’s struggles.” He actively participated during the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island, speaking out for the native people’s rights to the land under the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. He was later a member of AIM, the American Indian Movement. He worked to revive the Laramie Treaty for the Lakota people at Wounded Knee and lived in Duck Creek, a Native American reservation that was taking tribal sovereignty for itself, without the permission of the US government. Trudell is the first Native American to be able to mobilize and inspire so many people from different walks of life and age groups. Today, Trudell has put poetry to traditional Native American music. His poetry is meant to help him keep in touch with his reality. He’s helping people to recapture their identity and fight for what is rightfully theirs as Native American people.
What struck me most about the documentary on Trudell’s life was his intense dedication to the Native American cause and his vision of what the fight is really about. Despite the tragedy that struck his family, Trudell has continued to further the rights of Native Americans. Just six months after his wife’s and children’s deaths, he was in Canada, once again trying to secure his vision of Native American people restored to their homelands and in control of their own destinies and ways of life. The death of his family seemed to redouble his efforts, making him fully realize the degradation of our society and the need to refocus our lives to something meaningful. His music and poetry speaks across the ages, reaching people on a new level. It seems that he finds a sense of peace and a connection with his lost family through his music, words, and message.
Trudell’s dedication to the land and the earth is stirring. He finds his identity and his purpose in the beauty and power of “mother earth” and “father sky.” He sees the world as a living entity that we should respect and care for. The land supports us and our survival is undeniably tied to it, thus creating a stewardship between ourselves and the earth.
Trudell found his purpose in a vision he experienced, much like a vision quest certain Native American tribes took as part of a coming-of-age tradition. Trudell detailed in the documentary how he believed himself to have been placed on this earth 100 years too late, that in his vision he saw an Indian camp in which he belonged. It was after the vision that he discovered that the homelands of the Native American tribes was the issue, his purpose. Trudell then dedicated his life to securing land and sovereignty to Native American tribes.

Tribal Sovereignty, Language, and Aesthetics/Literature

Tribal sovereignty, native languages, and literature's have played an important role in the preservation of Native American identity. The right to govern oneself, speak ones own language, and write in ones own cultural context is key to maintaining a firm grasp on cultural identity.
Tribal sovereignty is a Native American tribes right to govern itself. A tribe is set apart as a separate nation within the United States. They possess the “right to determine membership, the right to tax their members, the right to regulate internal civil and criminal matters, and the right of sovereign immunity” (Kidwell 61). However, the United States government, the earlier colonizers, and the Native American tribes have had a number of legal disagreements over how much sovereignty should be allowed. Through treatises and trials, the Native Americans have struggled to maintain their sovereignty over their own people. A major defining moment in the issue of tribal sovereignty was in the Marshall Trilogy (Kidwell 63). The Marshall Trilogy is the three Supreme Court decisions, made by John Marshall in the mid-1800’s that helped to originally define tribal sovereignty in relation to the US government (Kidwell 63-64). With Johnson and Graham’s Lessee v. M’Intosh, Marshall established the “Doctrine of Discovery” and the “Doctrine of Conquest,” establishing that Native American’s could only occupy the land, rather than hold a title for the land and that conqueror has the right to take the land from the conquered (Kidwell 64). With Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Marshall established that Indian Nations were indeed self governing entities, but that now they were also dependent on the US government, making them “a ward to it’s guardian” (Kidwell 64). This gave the Native American tribes the right to govern themselves in a “trust relationship” with the US government (Kidwell 64). Finally, in the decision of Worcester v. Georgia, Marshall gave the Native American tribes the right to enforce their own laws, giving them jurisdiction over themselves (Kidwell 64). These three Supreme Court decisions were paramount in establishing the relationship between Native American tribes and the US government, legally establishing Native American tribes as their own governing entity.
Language is also a major issue in maintaining cultural identity. When the Europeans first came to America, there were about 500 different Native American languages spoken (Kidwell 92). Today, most of these languages have disappeared or are in the process of dying out. Language is an important part of belonging. In Native American languages there are certain linguistic factors that establish what’s important to the speakers and even their spiritual beliefs and understandings. For example, the Eskimos have fifty different words for snow (Kidwell 89). The existence of these different words expresses what the “cultural priorities” are of the native speakers (Kidwell 89). In the case of the Eskimos, snow plays a huge factor in their survival and existence. Depending on the condition of the snow, whether it be “light and fluffy, or heavy and wet,” impacts the Eskimo’s ability to travel across the Arctic (Kidwell 89). If a native speaker were to lose their language, or they were forced away from it, as happened in the boarding school’s system, they would lose their grasp of what was culturally important to that tribe since the words to define their importance was gone.
Literature is important as well to cultural identity. Many Native American writers incorporate words from their native languages as well as certain myths, legends, and characters from their tribes. By writing about their culture and the people and stories with whom they grew up, they unite their identity with the tribal culture their writing from. For example, Louise Erdrich, a Chippewa, incorporated a Chippewa trickster into her stories as the main character and often the hero (Kidwell 109). The trickster, named Gerry Nanapush, is the “archetypal Trickster [that] plays tricks, and is the victim of tricks” (Kidwell 109). She also uses Chippewa words and passages in her stories in addition to the traditional Chippewa trickster (Kidwell 110). The use of the trickster from her culture and the language helps to define her story has a tale of a Chippewa Indian. Through the story, Erdrich, as well as her Native American readers, can identify with the culture she’s writing from. Native American stories can also tell the stories of Native American’s struggling in their new found environment, characters struggling to find their identity. For example, John Joseph Matthews, an Osage, wrote the story Sundown, which follows the path of Chal, an Osage Indian struggling to find his place in the world and discovering his true cultural identity (Kidwell 102). Sundown offers modern day Native American’s a character they can relate too, a displaced character who’s trying to discover his purpose and place in the world.
The issues of tribal sovereignty, languages, and literature's are constantly being influenced by the ever growing and changing world around them. The US government is continually trying to define how much sovereignty should be allowed to Native American tribes. For example, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 complicated the issue of tribal sovereignty. When certain tribes began to earn a significant amount of money from gaming, the federal government became concerned (Kidwell 74). They were worried that organized crime would begin to take advantage of the Native American’s gaming activities (Kidwell 74). In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that the tribes had to give a percentage of their profit to the state. Also, if tribal members are allotted a certain amount of the earnings, then that is also subject to state and federal taxation (Kidwell 74). The issue of IGRA is that it seems to have hampered certain aspects of tribal sovereignty.
Native American languages are constantly at risk for disappearing. For so long, the US government tried to erase the native languages threw literacy requirements and boarding schools. However, today, the government seems to be taking an interest in preserving languages that have survived. Language programs are being established for Native American’s to study the languages they may or may not speak. It’s an attempt to salvage the languages that are so embedded in Native American cultural identity.
Literature has been a newer form of cultural identity in the past four decades (Kidwell 114). Though Native American’s had an extensive oral culture dating back before the arrival of Europeans, it is a more recent event that Native American’s are writing their traditions and cultures down. It is a new method for establishing and maintaining cultural identity among the authors and the readers of Native American tribes while also educating non-Native American peoples in the traditions and cultural values of Native Americans.


Kidwell, Clara Sue & Alan Velie. Native American Studies. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.

Colonialism, the Gaze, and Surveillance

David Spurr, in his book The Rhetoric of the Empire, seeks to dismantle the elements and rhetoric of colonialism and imperialism and their effects on the people and places where they are imposed.

Colonialism is, by definition, "control by one power over a dependent area or people" (Merriam-Webster). The colonizers believe that it is upon themselves to impose certain "better" modes of living upon the people and places that they enjoined. They take on a sort of "stewardship" in which they attempt to control, change, and nurture something or even someone that they deem to be under their care. However, this creates a number of issues, especially when they encounter an already settled people inhabiting the area which the colonizers wish to develop. The people that are already living there have their own ways of living and their own ideals. So, for the colonizers, to be able to enforce the natives to become "colonized," need to assert a dominance or superiority that eventually bends or forces the natives to either adapt to their way of life. And if the natives refuse to conform, then the colonizers use their false dominance to force them from their land.

There are two important elements that a colonizer will employ when trying to assert their superiority. One is "the gaze" and the other is "surveillance" (Spurr).

"The gaze" is method for viewing the people or cultures in to which the colonizers have stumbled. The gaze allows for the colonizer to view the habits, motions, and customs of a person or group of people. They can then report or analyze what they've seen, however they are never a part of the culture they view, thus leaving their view very limited. For example, a person comes across a group with whom they are not familiar. The person takes note of their clothing, their movements, and speech. He may take into account the groups mannerisms or habits. When the person leaves, he takes with him what he saw, but there's very little depth or understanding. There's no history and a lot of generalization.

The gaze is extremely effective when it comes to ordering or controlling a people or place. With the gaze, a colonizer can view an entire culture without ever relating to or fully understanding what they're seeing. It's a restricted view that allows the colonizer to see it all in a distant and inhuman manner. It allows the gazer to gain a command over what they see, thus moving them into a position of power which is key when trying to force others to live your way.

"Surveillance" is very similar, though on a broader scale. We often see surveillance occurring in descriptions of places or events. The surveyor is often in a position where they can see a great deal. They have a wider and more commanding view of everything occurring around them. For example, a surveyor may be standing on a hilltop, detailing all they can see below them, from the far stretching fields and trees, to the rivers and surrounding hilltops. It's a very detailed landscape view, perhaps, but there's no idea of the people or life that resides in that view. The surveyor is at a vantage point from which they can see all, but those being seen cannot see the surveyor. They are in a constant position of inferiority since their view is limited to what is surrounding them. Again, the surveyor has achieved a specific type of superiority that is key when trying to control or order the world that they view.

The gaze and surveillance have often been employed for "reading" and documenting on Native American cultures. The colonizers who came across Native American tribes would have generally maintained a certain distance since they wished to colonize their land and use their resources. The gaze and surveillance would have been employed so as to gain a scope of the people whom they wished to adapt to their way of life or simply force off their land. Their "readings" of the people would have been the distant, outsider view that left the Native American's in a place of inferiority and misunderstanding. The colonizers would have documented a culture that they had only nicked the surface of, a culture they neither understood nor identified with. This would have led to the stereotypes of Native American's and the loss of their individual identities in the eyes of the settlers.

Subtle Resistance and the Enduring Spirit

Chapter 3 of Native American Studies is taking another look at Native American’s in Western history. So often, history books portray the victimized American Indian, detailing events such as Wounded Knee and the Trail of Tears. While Western expansion was overly aggressive and American Indians were severely mistreated and victims in many ways, Chapter 3 presents the idea that American Indians have, often subtly, resisted Western ideals and attempts to degrade or eliminate their cultures. This resistance has allowed for the cultures’ to endure into the modern day.
Rhetoric has played greatly into this resistance to the Western culture. For example, the text cites an instance of the French attempting to control Native American’s during early American settlement. The French referred to themselves as the “fathers” of the Native American’s so as to assert their supreme importance to the people (p. 44). The Native American’s appeased the French, calling them their “fathers” but with an important, and unnoticed, idea resting in the background (p. 44). While the father is of the utmost importance in a patriarchal society, the Native American’s were in fact a society that celebrated the importance of the matrilineal line. Thus, while the Native American’s called the French their “fathers,” fathers were actually of very little importance to the Native American’s. The mother’s uncle was actually the most influential family member (p. 44).
While the idea of rhetoric may seem insignificant, it reveals a deeper set of ideals that would hold throughout the Native American people’s into the 21st century. It suggests the deeper understanding that Native American’s had of what was occurring in their world and the idea that physical resistance was not going to be enough to preserve their way of life, particularly once the numbers of European settlers became overwhelming. The Native American’s began to look to new ways of preserving their identity, since the land they had tied it to was being taken away. Around the time of Wounded Knee, the Native American’s had become invigorated through the work of Ghost dance’s as an attempt to call upon their ancestors and the spirits to help them restore their old ways of life (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/knee.htm). While there was still physical resistance occurring at this time, the Ghost dances were a spiritual way to identify with their ancestors and their tribe. The Sioux had been forced to the camp next to Wounded Knee creek, it was not the land to which their identity had been linked to (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/knee.htm). However, the Ghost dances were a way to call upon the ancestors and spirits that may have been associated with their homeland, but whom they were now, in a way, carrying with them.
In the beginning of the 1900’s, there was a movement towards boarding schools as a way to assimilate Native American’s into Western culture (p. 50). Once again, the Native American’s are leaving their homes and their families to live under the strict rule of another culture. However, the children banded together in a new sense of resistance, forging friendships and a new tribal identity (p. 50). In the face of cultural elimination, the Native American children are finding their own unique ways to keep their past and cultures alive, forging new identities from the old instead of simply letting the old disappear.
This chapter opened my eyes and allowed me to take a new view of history. The Native American’s were not victims, but enduring spirits who have fought to keep their cultures and identities alive by adapting to new surroundings and lifestyles and continually forging ahead.

Intertwining Life and Land

While reading Native American Studies by Kidwell and Velie, I was struck by the relationship, almost kinship, with the land and nature surrounding the Native American people's. From the detailed observation of the celestial movements to the fables and lore that tie the people to the wealth and harmony of nature. While much of Western civilization and culture has been involved with the destruction or replacement of the land, Native American culture is based more firmly, and more logically, in the symbiotic relationship with the land.
There is a deeper understanding of the respect and knowledge of the land that is clearly important when our very survival is tied to it. It seems that too often in Western culture we forget how dependent we are on the land, believing ourselves above the throes of nature. We seem to have created an unrealistic view in which humanity can overcome nature's power through technology. We have lost the logical understanding of how desperately our lives our tied to the world in which we live (though there does seem to be a definite, and very positive, movement away from this sort of thinking). Many Native American cultures have spent generations studying and understanding and living with the world around them. For example, many tribes have extensively studied the cosmos to the point that they recognize the coming and going of the seasons by the movement of stars, constellations, and planets. This study has allowed them to create a sense of time that moves cyclically, as opposed to the Western ideas of time, which are linear. Through a cyclical study of time, the Native American culture can adapt and learn from their past mistakes because time is constantly repeating, as opposed to constantly moving forward and away from the lives and events of our ancestors. Through a cyclical idea of time, a person would be better equipped to deal with certain events or even anomalies occurring in the world. Passed down through history are the fables and lore that allow a person to approach and survive through certain repeating or similar events. For example, the position of a certain constellation may signal the beginning of a growing season, however, the weather or conditions are not yet suitable for such activities. A person with a proper knowledge of the land and the stars would be more aware that such an anomaly was occurring; perhaps noticing that the ground is still frozen or there are signs of drought when there should be tillable land and plentiful rain, according to the stars. Even the slightest warning would allow this person to better prepare for what could months of hardship.
The idea here is that humanity is dependent on the land around them to survive and thrive and if there is a more solid and tangible idea of our dependency, not our supremacy, of nature, then perhaps we could come to care more for the land and save it from further destruction. In short, we need to recognize a balanced relationship with nature and view it as more of a being, rather than just a property in which to exploit for our own advances.

Native American Studies by Kidwell and Velie--Chapter 2

In Chapter 2 of Clara Sue Kidwell and Alan Velie's Native American Studies, the idea of the Native American relationship between the land and their identity is explored. The chapter traces several different tribes and their legends and myths pertaining to the creation of the Earth, the establishment of dominant species, and even the effects of certain celestial movements on activities, such as farming. I found the Lakota story about the creation of the Black Hills very fascinating. Not only does the story explore the creation of a rare and different part of the land, but it also explores the idea of predator and prey and the rights and respect afforded to and for hunting. The myth relates the story of the "two leggeds," such as birds and humans, and the "four leggeds," such as buffalo (p. 27). The two groups decide to race to determine who will be the dominant, hunting group and who will be the prey. They race around for such a long time that the Black Hills are formed. In the end, a bird, who had been riding on the back of a buffalo, lifts off and reaches the finish line first (p. 27). I found this story so interesting because it reveals the Lakota's tribes relations to the land and the animals in it. It's an attempt to understand and live symbiotically with nature. The Black Hills, whose trees and rises differ greatly from the rolling prairies surrounding it, become less foreign and odd when its creation is encompassed in a myth. Also, the tribe who feels a a strong connection to the land and the animals within it still needs to grasp its survival traits. They need to hunt to survive, killing the animals they may feel a certain bond or brotherhood with. This myth allows for the tribe to hunt the animals in a respectful and agreed upon manner. The "four leggeds" had agreed to the race and accepted the terms of losing, thus allowing the tribe the right to hunt them (p. 27).

By exploring the myths and legends of different tribes and peoples, allows for outside viewers to better understand their ways of thinking and living. While the ceremonies or preparations for a hunt may seem strange to someone of different background, the myths and legends allow a peek into the meaning behind it all. The Black Hills story reveals the Lakota's responsibility for the land and the animals around them, assigning them their care and keep. The story also presents another view of the world. It removes the idea of fixed or even real domination. In the beginning, all were equal. The ending could have varied, had the buffalo won the race. It can alter the blind-eyed view of man as the "divine form" and therefore handed the right to dominate all other species. The Lakota story offers the hunted species, as well as man, a sense of respect and dignity. Man earned his right to hunt the "four legged" species by racing and winning against them (p. 27). The man agreed to the same terms as the buffalo and therefore has earned his rights to hunt them.